Real-life Cardinals reportedly watched ‘Conclave’ for guidance before voting for new Pope
Real-life Cardinals have reportedly turned to Conclave for guidance before casting their votes for Pope Francis’ successor.
Pope Francis, the former head of the Catholic Church passed away on April 21, aged 88. The official cause of death was a cerebral stroke, followed by “irreversible cardiocirculatory collapse”, according to a church statement.
Voting for Pope Francis’ successor is currently underway, with the first round of voting taking place yesterday (May 7). The Cardinals involved were unable to come to a consensus, meaning the election process will continue until a Pope is unanimously selected.
According to a report from Politico, a number of real-life Cardinals and Clerics watched Conclave – the hit 2024 film – ahead of their voting session, with a Cleric telling the publication that the film is seen as “remarkably accurate”, making it a “helpful research tool”. According to Politico, some Cardinals even watched the film in the cinema.
Following a period of mourning, the voting process begins to find a new Pope through a papal conclave. This is where a secret gathering of The College Of Cardinals occurs. Cardinals from around the world go through a voting process which eventually results in the anointing of a new Pope, with the belief being that those voting are driven by the Holy Spirit.
The process was the subject of Conclave, which was first released in UK cinemas last November. Ralph Fiennes stars as the dean of the college, who organises the voting and uncovers scandals among the candidates. The film was nominated for eight Academy Awards, winning for Best Adapted Screenplay. Religious experts have praised the accuracy of the film, which dramatises the selection of a new Pope, just as the process is set to begin following the death of Pope Francis.
Following his death, streaming of Conclave spiked 283 per cent as word of Pope Francis’ passing spread throughout the world, according to Luminate (via Variety), which tracks viewership of streaming content. The film generated about 1.8million minutes viewed the day before (April 20) Pope Francis’ death, and by the end of April 21, that number had reached 6.9million minutes viewed.
In a four-star review of Conclave, James Mottram wrote for NME: “While Conclave isn’t a hardline take down of an institution that has been beset by scandal this century, including cover-ups of sexual abuse by priests, it does acknowledge that the Church has much to do to modernise. What results is a film that both works as a finely-tuned thriller and a meditation on the Church’s place in today’s society. More robust than similar films like The Two Popes (2019) and We Have a Pope (2011), Conclave is a perfect winter warmer.”
Following the Pope’s death, a host of celebrities expressed their sadness at his passing, including Russell Crowe and Whoopi Goldberg. Francis, who became pope in 2013 after his predecessor Benedict XVI resigned, was considered to be the most progressive pope to date, and had fans in several high-profile artists, with the likes of Martin Scorsese, Katy Perry, Orlando Bloom, Bono, Leonardo DiCaprio and Angelina Jolie attending papal audiences with him over the years.
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Surej Singh
NME
